They Were Divided - Miklos Banffy [189]
Abady said goodbye to Aunt Ida when they reached a shop she wanted to visit.
He had just turned homewards when Aurel Timisan spoke to him: ‘Well, well, my Lord! And what do you think of this turn of events?’ There was a mocking tone in his voice and a smile lurked behind his thick white moustache.
Balint did not care for the undoubted irony in the question and so answered only with some mild generality. Then he asked: ‘Tell me, why did the Romanian minority, through your new parliamentary lobby, refuse Tisza’s overtures? As a first step to national co-operation it seemed to me a most remarkable move for the government to have made.’
‘A first step? We’re a long way from that now! We, my dear Count, are realists. Before the Balkan War, even before the peace, we might have considered it. But now? That is all history now, and all around us the old Monarchy is breaking up!’ He waved two fingers lightly in the air, and went on: ‘Today the Heir to the throne, the only man who might have brought us together, is dead. Perhaps he …?’
‘I’ll never believe that. His ideas were crazy. A Triple Monarchy? Habsburg imperialism taking in all the southern Slavs as far as Salonika? Why, Franz-Ferdinand’s programme was sheer fantasy!’
‘Perhaps. I don’t deny it; but there was an idea there,’ replied the old Timisan pensively. Then, with a flash of sincerity, he said: ‘Fate has a macabre sense of humour, has she not? Our poor Archduke was murdered by the Slavs whom he loved and wanted to make great; and now the Hungarians, whom he hated, are making war to avenge him. It is amusing, is it not? Really very funny indeed!’
Balint found the old revolutionary’s mocking smile insupportable. They parted, and Balint went home.
Chapter Three
BALINT ARRIVED at Denestornya in the afternoon. Two of the stable-lads had already received their army papers, as had eight farm workers, a ‘darabont’ – man of all work – the blacksmith and three of the under-gardeners and, most serious of all, Miklos Ganyi, his right-hand man. There was a great deal to do for all these had somehow to be replaced, and all arrangements must be made before Balint himself left to rejoin his regiment at Varad on the following day.
On his desk was a registered letter from Vienna. The envelope bore the elegant gold circle emblem of the foreign ministry. It was from Slawata, now head of his department. It was dated August 4th and informed Abady that Slawata had arranged for him to be seconded to the General Staff as liaison officer for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was asked to go at once to Vienna where his duties would be explained to him.
Balint was sure that Slawata had done this out of goodwill for an old friend thinking that he could thereby save him from service in the front line. It also showed that Slawata at least was happy about the way things were going, because he went on to take Balint into his confidence, telling him ‘Berchtold hat die Sache brilliant gemacht – Berchtold has managed everything brilliantly,’ and he went on to explain exactly where this brilliance lay. He had purposely, wrote Slawata, not shown the text of the ultimatum to Austria’s allies; neither to Berlin lest they should pass it on to Rome, nor to Rome since they would have shown it at once to London and Paris! Even if it had got no further than Vienna there would have been cabinet meetings and discussions and the wording would have been changed and toned down. They would have ruled out the demand for compensation which would ensure ‘Die endgültige Abrechnung – the final reckoning…’ In this way Berchtold had so arranged it all that no one could stop him.
Italy, of course, went on Slawata, had already abandoned her former friends, but then Austria had not taken her into account for several years past; but the German foreign minister, Bethman-Hollweg, good fellow that he was, had swallowed it all without a word! ‘Wir haben den Kerl überrumpelt! – we caught the fellow unawares!’
Balint was horrified by the casual tone of everything Slawata wrote. He supposed that it was possible that